Posts by scout575

54

Comments You Will Not Year at the 3-12-06 WT Study(Witness/Nations)

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the march 12, 2006 wt study (february 1, 2006 issue, pages 22-26)(witness/nations).

review comments will be in red.

wt material from today's wt will be in black.

scout575

jgnat: I was surprised that the WTS is so heavily cricitcized by Will Power, for merely paraphrasing the Bible. Bible writers themselves paraphrase earlier parts of the Bible ( Jude 18; 2 Peter 3:3 ), and it seems odd that anyone who believes in the Bible would find that objectionable.

The paraphrase that the WTS used in the article, was based on 1 Tim 4:16, and can quite innocuously be applied to the efforts of Christians to preach and teach. If JWs are to be criticized for that paraphrase, then to be consistent, the writer of 1 Tim 4:16 should also be criticized.

The WTS harmless use of 1 Tim 4:16, is in sharp contrast to the very misleading use of Scripture seen in the gospels. The writer of Matthew even appeals to a so-called Messianic prohecy that doesn't exist. He portrays Jesus' upbringing in Nazareth as having been prophesied in the Old Testament, with the words: "And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." ( Matt 2:23 ) The fact is, the Old Testament prophets don't anywhere say 'he shall be called a Nazarene'. I'm sure we can all imagine the outrage of Christian posters, on this site, if the WTS were to follow in Matthew's footsteps, and be as blatantly disingenuous as him.

226

UK & IRELAND MAP

by ballistic in

jw
friends

i had an idea that i could build a uk map of everyones location which would show you instantly who is in your area from jwd.. (it might be an idea to do a seperate us one aswell but i'll wait and see if this one takes off first, or if anyone from the us wants to volunteer to do that one).

(and australia but you are all in the same backyard anyway - literally!!!).

anyway, all you have to do is post or email me your username and town and i will draw you on the map above which will change gradually to include everyone!.

scout575

Ballistic: Please include me, I'm from Northamptonshire.

54

Comments You Will Not Year at the 3-12-06 WT Study(Witness/Nations)

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the march 12, 2006 wt study (february 1, 2006 issue, pages 22-26)(witness/nations).

review comments will be in red.

wt material from today's wt will be in black.

scout575

Will Power: I'm an agnostic now, but I was surprised to read your posting earlier. You quote from the Watchtower article where it says: "By doing so, we will save ourselves and those who listen to us." You describe this statement as the "ultimate in boastful arrogance aswell as about as anti-Christian as you can get. This is their self-serving message. They prop themselves up in the holy place, thats disgusting."

In making the above statement, The Watchtower is paraphrasing Paul's words to Timothy, where he says: "For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee." ( 1 Tim 4:16 ) Was Paul's statement 'the ultimate in boastful arrogance aswell as about as anti-Christain as you can get'? Was his a 'self-serving message'? Did he 'prop himself up in the holy place'? Was that 'disgusting'?

54

Comments You Will Not Year at the 3-12-06 WT Study(Witness/Nations)

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the march 12, 2006 wt study (february 1, 2006 issue, pages 22-26)(witness/nations).

review comments will be in red.

wt material from today's wt will be in black.

scout575

Luna2: Thanks for your lovely reply. Even when I was Witness I'd heard about some brothers 'throwing their weight around' and I didn't disbelieve it. The New Testament contains examples of things going badly wrong within the first century congregation ( Gal 5:15, 1 Cor 3:3, James 2:1-4 ) and so I knew that the same thing was likely to occur in the modern day too.

You mention the role of women within the Chrtistian congregation, and I must say that the Bible's assigning of a secondary role to women within the congregation ( 1 Tim 2:11,12 ) was one of the many things that contributed to my abandoning Christianity. It was blatantly obvious to me that many sisters were more gifted teachers than many of the brothers, and yet the Bible prohibits them from becoming teachers within the congregation.

The Bible is clearly a product of its time, and whilst it contains much that is good and inspiring, it also contains alot that is unnecessarily limiting and harsh. Its a shame that Christians feel compelled to apply the Bible even in areas where it does more harm than good.

54

Comments You Will Not Year at the 3-12-06 WT Study(Witness/Nations)

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the march 12, 2006 wt study (february 1, 2006 issue, pages 22-26)(witness/nations).

review comments will be in red.

wt material from today's wt will be in black.

scout575

luna2: Obviously I can't deny your own experiences as a JW, and if you say you felt uncomfortable then I believe you entirely. All I can say is that I did feel comfortable. You say that JWs ruin lives and suck people dry, again I can't deny your own experience, but I have to say that it didn't ruin my life or suck me dry at all. I walked away from Christianity last September with no complaints, and feeling very well emotionally. I suspect that the old adage applies that 'one man's meat is another man's poison'.

I've read postings on the site about how people felt that they always had to do more, more, more as a JW, that nothing they did was ever good enough, that they felt that they could never please god. Again this wasn't my experience. I used to feel that doing all I reasonably could as a Christian WAS good enough, I thought that god WAS pleased with me, after all the Scripture does say that: "Wisdom from above is REASONABLE." ( James 3:17 ). Had I have gone beyong the point of doing all I reasonably could for god, THEN I would have had something to worry about because I would have been going against god's will as stated at James 3:17.

I'm now agnostic, and view the Bible as the work of man, but Iook back on my time as a JW with huge fondness. I have endless happy memories to reflect back on. Of course, things didn't always run smoothly for me ( thats life ) but, on the whole it was a very positive and happy life, and thats why I find the predominantly negative view of JWs on this site so baffling.

54

Comments You Will Not Year at the 3-12-06 WT Study(Witness/Nations)

by blondie in

comments you will not hear at the march 12, 2006 wt study (february 1, 2006 issue, pages 22-26)(witness/nations).

review comments will be in red.

wt material from today's wt will be in black.

scout575

Blondie: You say: "Those of you who ever attended a congregation of JWs know the climate of fear and betrayal that exists." I spent 22 years as a JW in 4 congregations and never detected anything remotely resembling a climate of fear and betrayal. I often used to be chairman at the Sunday meeting, and found it difficult to get the brothers and sisters to take their seats, because of all the laughter and animated, good natured conversation that was going on. It was a joy to behold. Its hard to imagine anything further removed from a 'climate of fear and betrayal'.

62

As a JW how do/did you feel about 6 billion people being destroyed?

by jwfacts in

how else can a person justify that jehovah will destroy 6 billion people, innocent children included?

i could never accept that i deserved salvation whereas almost no one else did.

it put me on permanent spiritual edge because i thought the slave is right so the doctrine of destruction must be, but my heart always knew it was wrong.

scout575

Victorian sky: Of course there are many Scriptures that portray Jesus in a favourable light ( as is the case with Jehovah ). I was merely pointing out that that isn't the whole story. The Scriptures that I quoted present the unpalatable side of Jesus. I haven't made those Scriptures up, they are there in the Bible for all to see. They present Jesus as a blood thirsty avenging warrior. Read them again if you are in any doubt.

I notice that some Christians like to have a 'Disney-fied' view of the Bible. The fact is there is a very 'dark' side to Jesus and Jehovah that cannot be wished away.

I said that difellowshipping and shunning ( a Bible policy ) is tame, ONLY IN COMPRISON TO COUNTLESS OTHER MORE BARBARIC PUNISHMENTS DECREED BY GOD, like: 1 - Incineration ( Gen 19:24 ). 2 - Drowning - ( Gen 7:21 ) 3 - Eating by worms - ( Acts 12:23 ). 4 - Slaughter by the edge of the sword of men, women AND CHILDREN. - ( Joshua 10: 39 ). I could go on and on, but there's no need to. Victorian sky, you know the psycopathic barbarity that the god of the Bible is depicted as carrying out. COMPARED TO these grotesque punishments, disfellowshipping and shunning is indeed tame.

62

As a JW how do/did you feel about 6 billion people being destroyed?

by jwfacts in

how else can a person justify that jehovah will destroy 6 billion people, innocent children included?

i could never accept that i deserved salvation whereas almost no one else did.

it put me on permanent spiritual edge because i thought the slave is right so the doctrine of destruction must be, but my heart always knew it was wrong.

scout575

jwfacts: The elder's remark to you was barbaric in the extreme. However, if the apostle Paul had been asked whether non-Christians living at the time of god's judgement, deserve to die, what would have been his response? The answer seems blatantly obvious to me, after all, he wrote 2 Thess 1: 7-9. The heartless attitudes displayed by JWs come from a deeply flawed, ancient text that Christians have the temerity to call the HOLY Bible.

62

As a JW how do/did you feel about 6 billion people being destroyed?

by jwfacts in

how else can a person justify that jehovah will destroy 6 billion people, innocent children included?

i could never accept that i deserved salvation whereas almost no one else did.

it put me on permanent spiritual edge because i thought the slave is right so the doctrine of destruction must be, but my heart always knew it was wrong.

scout575

Victorian sky: You say that you 'thank god every day that you're free' of the JW religion. As a 'born again' Christian you believe in the Bible. Look at what the Bible says Jesus will do to people who don't practice Christianity: "Depart from me, ye cursed, into EVERLASTING FIRE, prepared for the devil and his angels." ( Matt 24:41) "VENGEANCE on them that..obey not the gospel...punished with EVERLASTING DESTRUCTION." ( 2 Thess 1: 8,9 ) "SMITE the nations...rule them with a ROD OF IRON... he treadeth the winepress of the FIERCENESS and the WRATH of Almighty God." Victorian sky, have you jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire? If Jesus is portrayed as such a bloodthirsty avenging warrior, I'm sure he wouldn't bat an eyelid at something as comparitvely tame as disfellowshipping and shunning those Christians who abandon Christian 'standards'.

62

As a JW how do/did you feel about 6 billion people being destroyed?

by jwfacts in

how else can a person justify that jehovah will destroy 6 billion people, innocent children included?

i could never accept that i deserved salvation whereas almost no one else did.

it put me on permanent spiritual edge because i thought the slave is right so the doctrine of destruction must be, but my heart always knew it was wrong.

scout575

jwfacts: Your comments remind me of the saying that 'we don't see things the way they are, we see them the way WE are'. You would like the Bible to contain nothing that supposedly comes from god as being cold and heartless, and yet that is far from the case. Anyone reading 1 Corinthians 5:11 without any pre-suppositions, would interpret it as commanding Christians to shun fellow believers who practice the "sins' listed by Paul in that verse. This is quite obviously an extremely harsh Bible policy, but nowhere near as harsh as the way the Bible decreed 'sinners' should be treated under the Mosaic law. At Deuteronomy 21:18-23, god is portrayed as telling the Israelites to stone rebellious children to death, and then hang their dead bodies upon a tree. Clearly, the Bible is not sentimental about handing down extremely harsh punishments to people who don't do as they're told. The Bble's disfellowshipping ordinance at 1 Corinthians 5:11, seems quite tame when compared to the innumerable other barbarities that it says god decreed.